Frankly, I had my doubts. She looked pretty, although you knew she’d been around the block a time or two. She seemed lonely standing behind a tree near the edge of a clearing. She wasn’t accustomed to going out. I wondered how she would handle on the road.
You may know I’m talking about a 1970 “Crown” school bus brought to the Midwest by Minnesota folks from California who wanted to make a “Camper” out of her to enjoy with their grandchildren. Well, that didn’t quite work out, so she landed in the hands of Pastors for Peace. She sat at Annathoth Farm for a year until Mike Miles fired her up and taught me the oddities of air compression; needed by the brakes for sure, the windshield wipers (I remember those), and a passenger door that opens and closes with a push of an old button, sweet.
I learned of Pastors for Peace several years ago from Bill Hill, a professional volunteer, bus driver, and mechanic. I researched the organiza-tion and was impressed with the way they acted on the Gospel message. Last summer, West Denmark invited a representative of the group to speak about their ministry. In that process I communi-cated with headquarters. They discovered that I could drive a bus. Subsequently, I was put on a list of potential drivers for one of their annual caravans. I might have been hoping that they forgot about me, when this spring I received an email asking if I was interested in driving a bus full of medical supplies and ‘caravanistas’ to Mexico, and then go on from there to Cuba to learn about Cuban culture, politics, and life after the revolution. This would have involved a one-month commitment. I could manage a week. They understood, and I’ll be on the road July 7th through the 14th. I’ll be driving from Duluth to St. Louis via Minneapolis, Madison, Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Chicago.
The diesel engine in that old yellow bus sounded like the 71,000 miles she had under her fan belt. She purred as well as any bus in the Luck school fleet. 71,000 is a waltz around the dance floor for this kind of vehicle. She’s kept her figure pretty well, but there were issues - like double clutch’n, old tie rods, and who knows what the suspension was like. I was a bit nervous, and wondered if I was up to the task of man handling this beast around four states.
First victory, finding first gear. Slowly letting out the clutch, oops what’s that grinding? Better find first gear again. We pulled onto Round Lake Road with Mike at my shoulder always encouraging. The lessons came flying at me. Got to slow way down for the corners. That big old steering wheel lying flat across my lap is placed that way for a reason. It takes two good revolutions (not the Cuban type) to make a 90-degree turn. That will take some getting used to. By the time we turned onto County Road D I was noticing this wonderful old bus was of the kind not made any more. Built of heavy gauge metal, rattling was not part of the audio experience. And as for my wondering about tie rods and wandering the road, no need. She drove straight as an arrow. One last lesson before we hit the city traffic. This bus is almost as forgiving as the Almighty. Pulling onto Highway 8 she seemed to be bogging down a bit. I did the double clutch’n thing and I moved the gearshift lever over to the right only to find there were no more gears in that direction. Yup, I was in fourth with no place else to go but down to high gear, and away we went to Minneapolis for this beauty to get a new radical make over.
By the time we had the Metrodome in sight, I was already in love. This is my second love and I’m confident that this relationship is going to work out just fine. I’m excited about my week on the road and convinced that the Gospel will be proclaimed during this trip and the rest of the bus’ traveling days.
Friday morning of Family Camp, Antonio Rosell will talk about Cuba's social achievements, the economic blockade, the Pastors for Peace caravan, and the prospects for change in US policy with a new administration and congress. Hopefully the Caravan bus will be here as well for part of Family Camp.
Hasta la vista!
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-- Pastor Mike, 6/22/2009
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